Stowaway on the Valkyrie
by Thrax-the-Virus
Summary: before they met cal the crew of the Valkyrie adobted another crew member, one who had quite an effect on Preed. This is her story.
1. Kersleaf

Stowaway on the Valkyrie By Thrax_the_Virus  
  
Author's note: Set about three years before Cale met the crew of the Valkyrie in Titan A.E. I don't own the following titles and concepts except of course for Kersleaf and the storyline.  
  
***  
  
The worn cargo style ship hummed to life as it prepared to leave the docking bay. Her first mate ran a quick systems check, his keen yellow eyes tracing the monitors with an almost sentimental familiarity. Finally he turned to the rather rugged looking Human behind him. "All ready for departure, captain, just as soon as Stith gets her tail onboard."  
  
Korso nodded, glancing out the view port to his right. "Thanks, Preed. The sooner we get off this rock the better,"  
  
The Akrennian silently seconded that, then glanced down ad the scanner beeped, signaling another life form had boarded. He cracked his knuckles in smug pleasure. "Lovely. Now we can be off." A second beep stopped him mid- sentence and he frowned, staring down at the monitor which now showed six individuals abroad the Valkyrie. His expression deepened a moment later when the Sogowian joined them on the bridge, checking her weapons as she settled into her seat. "Stith, my dear, I'm confused."  
  
"And that should surprise me?" she asked sarcastically, clicking the safety on one of her324 cobra T1000 S-rifles as she sighted down it's barrel.  
  
Preed let that one slide for now. "Did we recently change our policy of not taking on passengers without my knowledge?"  
  
"No," she looked up and furrowed her brow. "Why?"  
  
"Then we have an uninvited visitor," he responded, unstraping the blaster he always carried from its holster on his left calf before heading back toward the hold.  
  
Preed cocked his head to one side and sniffed, his single ear twitching as he circled the bulkhead. His long fingered hands slid over the curves of the gun, reveling in its deadly glint as he paced and began to speak softly aloud, "I like to think of myself as a decent sort of fellow, but what an Akrennian hates most is someone trying to get something from him for free!" he whirled on the last syllable and aimed at the quivering form in the shadows.  
  
"Tell me about it," whispered a distinctly feminine voice as the figure rose and stepped into the light, making Preed's eye arches shoot up in startlement.  
  
A slender female of his own species stood there fidgeting. She was dressed in a simple crimson flight-suit with punkish armbands, spacer's boots and golden wristlets. Emerald eyes studied him uneasily as she crossed her arms over her chest." I flirted with every Akrennian flyboy who passed by trying to get a lift out of this dump. I finally decided to try relying on Human kindness. My mistake."  
  
The gun's muzzle never strayed from her heart. "You don't have money for a passport but you can traipse around displaying golden jewelry?"  
  
A stunned look formed on her face. "Pawn my mother's wristlets? Perish the thought!"  
  
Preed smirked, his index finger stroking the trigger. "No pawning required, my dear. No one would wear something so gaudy unless as a way to hide hard cash." She scowled, pulling out a fifty-point credit chip from the right cuff. "Damn, you're a smart one, aren't you? Common thief."  
  
He tucked the chip in his waistband. "And you, my dear, are an officious liar."  
  
"Why, thank you."  
  
"No, thank you." He reholstered the blaster and offered her a hand. "Now, we go have a word with the Captain."  
  
* * *  
  
Korso glanced up as the two Akrennians entered the bridge and raised an eyebrow. "I see you found our stowaway."  
  
The female blushed slightly and shot Preed a nasty look as he shoved her forward. She stared into the taller humanoid's eyes pleadingly until he ran a hand throw his crew cut and sighed.  
  
"Well if you're gonna stay, you're gonna work. Akima," he gestured to a purple haired oriental-looking woman of approximately her age, "Flies the Valkyrie. Stith is our weapons expert and Gune is the navigator."  
  
"And what does he do?" the female demanded, jerking a thumb at Preed. He crossed his arms and sneered indignantly.  
  
"Preed is my first mate," Korso replied, stifling a chuckle at her forwardness.  
  
"You mean he plays with the computer," she smirked, much to Preed's chagrin and distaste. "I guess that leaves good old Kersleaf here with the job of scullery maid." She was less that enthusiastic at the prospect.  
  
"Dinner is promptly at six and do be a dear and give those pans a good scrubbing, Precious," Preed taunted smugly before the grumbling girl was beyond earshot down the hall.  
  
* * *  
  
"Do be a dear and give those pans a good scrubbing, Precious," muttered Kersleaf in her most mocking version of a male voice as she worked a week's worth of dried grease off a skillet. Her fingers were pale and wrinkled from dishwater and she swiped at the sweat on her forehead with the grimy apron she'd found stuffed under the sink behind a box of tools and cleaners. She moved to retrieve the next item, carefully pulling it from a three-foot high pile of dishes and grimaces, flinching and squeezing her eyes shut as everything chattered and crashed to the ground.  
  
"That's it..THAT'S IT!!" she shrieked, snatching up a bottle of disinfectant and throwing it as hard as she could at the door.  
  
Preed ducked sharply as he poked his head in, narrowly avoiding getting hit by the bottle as it sailed over his head and slammed into a bulkhead behind him. He looked back at her, this disheveled, dirty excuse for a space voyager and snickered. "Not in a good mood I take it?"  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
Sobering, he bowed to her in an almost regal manner and smiled wolfishly," I just wanted to drop by and see how you're doing. We didn't get off to a very good start I fear."  
  
"Oh." Some of the glare faded from her expression and she nodded as if she'd know that would happen all along, going back to her work. "Well, I don't think we did either, but it's nice of you to apologize."  
  
"Apologize?? Surely you jest, what would I be apologizing for."  
  
"URG! You know what, just go away," She spat, whirling and snapping a towel at him so he backed up. "Captain Korso! Captain Korso!"  
  
Korso appeared in the doorway, looking confused, "What."  
  
"Just remove him from my kitchen!" Kersleaf snapped, turning her nose up away from the other stunned Akrennian who broke into a sarcastic, stuttering laugh.  
  
"YOUR kitchen? You've been here for two hours and now.."  
  
"What did you do to her, Preed?"  
  
"ME?? She's the one who."  
  
"C'mon," Korso cut him off, leading him out of the kitchen. He was biting his lower lip to conceal a half-smirk that Preed took a great deal of offense at. What right did he have to stand up for her? "Now I understand that you might have an unspoken attraction for this girl but..."  
  
"ATTRACTION???" Preed yelped, pointing back at the kitchen door, his eyes bulging and his jaw almost unhinged, "To that skinny little brat?! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND!?!"  
  
Korso grinned, shrugging, "Hey calm down. It was just an observation."  
  
"Attraction," Preed scoffed as he followed the captain to the bridge but when he was sure his friend's attention was elsewhere he risked a glance over his shoulder at the kitchen and a small smile. 


	2. The Firegem

Kersleaf was more than happy to be off the Valkyrie when they docked at Port Omega 15 for supplies. She accompanied Stith and Preed to the local market place and while her comrades were off admiring weaponry and such novelties she busied herself selecting new delicacies for the crew's meals. The young Akrennian actually was quite surprised to find herself taking to her new occupation like a duck to water even though she received compliments on her work only from the Captain and Gune. She felt shy around her new allies and knew little about them, tending to keep to her own domain of the kitchen but she silently promised herself she'd get to know each of them better. Even Preed.  
  
She stopped to feel a greenish looking fruit and sniffed at it, wondering if it would taste nicely in a sweet salad. It smelled divine and she picked out five of them, paying the older Human vender. Glancing around it struck her that she'd lost site of her comrades and a slight tingle of worry ran through her that they might leave without her but she forced it down to the pit of her stomach. She had to learn to trust them and to convince herself she took her mind off it by biting into one of the fruits.  
  
"Sampling the kiwis, are we?" a smug voice asked in her right ear, making her spin around and almost spit juice all over Preed. He chuckled and patted her on the shoulder, "Easy Girl, I don't bite.well not often in any case."  
  
"Don't do that!" She sighed and relaxed again, swallowing the remainder of her fruit. "A kiwi, is that what it's called?"  
  
"Yes, it's an Earthen fruit or was. The Humans grow them among other such foods on their drifter colonies as a means of bartering and trade," he remarked lightly, slipping another one out of her shopping satchel and biting into it.  
  
Instead of responding with annoyance as she normally would at such brashness, Kersleaf only felt curiosity welling inside her and walked next to Preed as he moved away to the next stand. "How do you know so much about Human culture?"  
  
He paused to admire a firegem set in silver, lifting it against the twin suns' light and shifting it this way and that to watch it glitter. "Mostly from Korso. One learns a lot from living with someone for five years."  
  
She glanced at the gem, then back at his face, leaning against the stall casually. "I've been meaning to ask you about that. How is it you two got to be such close friends?"  
  
"Friends? Yes, I suppose you could call us that. Well, 'twas back when I lost my left ear and part of my skull in a wild shoot-out with slave traders on P'lochda. Fascinating story, but I'll tell you that another time. I met Korso in an alley back of a hospital, where he was recovering from laser wounds. We joined forces hoping that each other had found a trustworthy comrade in a galaxy without much loyalty. Touching in a way I suppose." As if the memory brought back phantom pains he reached up and briefly touched the glinting metal plate in his head, his yellow eyes haunted.  
  
Kersleaf's eyes became twin pools of sympathy and she took his hand as it came down toward his side, their eyes locking. He leaned toward her, his mouth open with unknown words on his tongue.  
  
Suddenly a shriek followed by cries of fear broke out and aliens of all sorts ran in every direction for cover. Preed whirled, his eyes widening as he saw the group of energy composed pulsing blue beings advancing on the stragglers and picking them off with laser blasts. "Drej! Look out.UH!" He shoved Kersleaf down behind a stall and she felt his weight on top of her as he jerked sharply and fell, then something hot and sticky dripped on her cheek as he rolled off her, groaning.  
  
Her eyes locked on the dripping red wound on his shoulder and a streak of cold horror ran down her spine. "PREED!!!" She collapsed to her knees by his side, pulling him into her arms with the upper part of his torso in her lap as she ripped off a strip of her flightsuit's leg and wrapped it around his wound, cutting off the blood flow. A shadow fell over them and she looked up, shuddering as she stared into the empty black visor face of a Drej trooper. Unconsciously she shifted her body to shield Preed, certain she'd feel the fiery pain of a laser bolt in her chest any second now. The Drej regarded the Akrennians for a moment, then dismissed them and went to find a more promising target.  
  
* * *  
  
"OW! For bloody crying in the night, be CAREFUL, Stith!," Preed yelped as the Sogowian dug the probe in deeper to his healing wound. Korso and Kersleaf stood off to one side in the infirmary, watching the patient squirm with discomfort.  
  
"Stop being such a big baby, Preed," Stith responded, removing the probe and wiping it clean. "You're fine. It's cauterized so it won't get infected and the bone is only singed a bit. Just relax and stop whining."  
  
Kersleaf smiled and moved forward to wrap his arm in fresh bandages as Stith left, trying to ignore the warm feeling that made her cheeks redden at seeing Preed with his shirt off. She expertly tucked the sterile wrappings tightly as she avoided his eyes. "I never got to thank you..for saving me."  
  
Preed blinked and shifted nervously. Having her hands on his bare skin made him feel a rush of confused emotions he couldn't quite identify and it made him uneasy. He had flirted with several females before but they tended to ignore his advances like Akima. Now that one was paying so close of attention to his well being he didn't quite know how to respond. "It.was nothing. I just didn't want to explain to the Captain when you didn't come back."  
  
Her ear tips wilted slightly like a flower long missing the sun. "Oh," she said simply, finishing her work, but at her tone Preed could have kicked himself for his reply. He had too much pride to correct himself however and opted to stay silent.  
  
Seeing the awkward silence stretching out between the two Akrennians, Korso cleared his throat and stepped forward to her side, squeezing her shoulder, a gesture that made her turn and regard him with affection and gratitude. "Well, get some rest, Preed. I can't run this ship without my first mate, can I?" His gaze shifted to Kersleaf and he gave her a warm smile. "For which I owe you some thanks. Your quick thinking saved him from being a lot worse off."  
  
She blushed . "I could have done nothing else, Captain." Why hadn't she noticed till now how beautiful those gray-blue eyes were? And combined with that roguish smile.he really was quite handsome for a Human.  
  
Preed hadn't missed the look that passed between Korso and Kersleaf, something which made a new sensation of hot coals in his gut for a reason he couldn't identify. One thing he did know was that he didn't like it at all and couldn't stand for it to be prolonged another moment. He coughed loudly, making both of the others turn back to him and stretched, yawning, "Come to think of it I am quite tired."  
  
Korso caught the hint and nodded, slipping out. She was about to follow him when Preed caught her hand. His eyes caught hers again and she felt a bit dizzy. "In all the excitement I forgot to give this to you." He fumbled in the pocket of his trousers and drew out the gleaming red firegem pendant, placing it in her hand as she stared at him in astonishment. He smiled. "I bought it from the vender while you and Stith were comlinking the Valkyrie."  
  
"Preed...," she stammered in shock, tears trying to work their way free. "I..I don't know what to say."  
  
"Then don't say anything." He lay back against his pillows, relaxing and awarding her his most charming grin. "Just stay with me till I nod off, hmm?" Her fingers laced with his and before he closed his eyes he caught a glimpse of Korso standing in the doorway. The Captain winked at him in that knowing way then disappeared. 


End file.
